Filing cabinet



Sept. 21, 1926. 1,600,779

L. G. STEELE FILING CABINET Filed June -8, 1925 Patented Sept. 21, 1926.

UNITED STATES LINDA G. STEELE, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

FILING CABINET.

Application filed June 8,

Although my present invention is referred to as a thug cabinet, I may state at the outset that this invention relates especially to internal retaining means, utilizing mere transverse rods for holding iile contents in predetermined positions; and, in preferred embodiments of my invention, the mentioned retaining or positioning means maybe usedin movable drawers, or in other containers, having substantially vertical side elements, whether integral or removable, which are provided with slots, diagonally inclined and preferably extending therethrough and to the top thereof and adapted to so receive the mentioned rod-like positioningelements that the latter are normally retained in expansions at the bottoms of said slots.

It is a further object of this invention to provide file cabinet drawers, or the like, with means for the reception and removable retention of rod-like positioning elements orretainers having enlargements, shown as circular, at the ends thereof, to prevent undesired longitudinal movement of said rods; and preferred embodiments of my invention may comprise drawers so supported that the mentioned enlargements, or their equivalents, shall constitute no obstacle to the re ciprocation or shifting of said drawers rela tively. to the body of a cabinet, or relatively to any adjacent walls between which a drawer or other containermay be removably retained.

Other objects of my invention will appear from the following descriptions of advantageous embodiments thereof, taken in connection with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a p rspective view of a drawer illustrating one form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section through a drawer of the type illustrated in Fig. 1 and a cabinet in which the same is slidably retained.

Fig. 3 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, taken from the general direction indicated by the arrow 3, of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a rod-like retaining element, as hereinafter described.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view, illustrating an alternative form.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view, taken as indicated by the lines 7? of Fig. 5.

'Referring to the details of that specific embodiment of my invention illustrated in 1925. Serial m. 35,516.

Figs. 1 to 4: inclusive, 11 may be the outer vertical walls of a filing cabinet of a usual or preferred type, and 12 may bethe lateral and substantially vertical walls of a drawer or other container, the illustrated drawer being shown as comprising a bottom 13, a rear end plate 14, and a front end plate 15, carryinga handle 16, by which the same may be drawn in and out, during Continuous engagementbetween guiding and supporting elements 17 and 18, secured respectively to the walls 11 and 12, and serving to provide spaces 19 therebetween.

Drawers embodying my invention may be equipped with any usual auxiliaries, such as alphabet cards 20, shown as provided, at their lower edges, with tabs 21 projecting into a depression 22 and threaded on a rod 23. This rod is shown as terminating in a knurled or milled head 24; but it should be understood that the features just men tioned. constitute no part of my present invention, being shown only for purposes of completeness, the novelty of my filing cabinets being resident in the means which I employ to secure file contents (such as the .al-,

phabet cards 20 and the correspondence or folders, or thelike, disposed therebetween) in their intended positions within drawers or other containers. For example, I may provide the substantially vertical lateral walls 12 of a drawer with slots 25, of the general character best illustrated in Fig. 3, each slot, whether straight or curved, downwardly terminating in an enlargement 26.

It will be understood that the side walls 12 I may be formed of wood, sheet metal, or other material, in a usual manner; and, when the described slots and enlargements are cut subsequently to the manufacture of the containers, said enlargements may advantageously be formed by boring; and the slots leading thereto may be out by means of a saw, In manufacturing on a large scale, it may however be deemed best either to complete all necessary machine work upon the sides 12 before they are associated with bottom and end elements, or it may, in some cases, be considered preferable to provide supplemental side elements, such as are separately shown in Figs. 5 andt6, attaching these to drawers not initially equipped with means for the retention of rod-like spacers 27, such as are shown separately in Fig. 4:. It will be understood that the enlargements 28, orheads upon the ends of my removable positioning elements, are intended to limit or prevent their longitudinal movement relatively to the slotted side walls 12, of a container; but that said enlargements constitute no obstacle to the shifting of the described positioning elements from one pair of opposite slots 25 to another pair of said slots; and the use of these rod-like elements shown as having a uniform and circular cross-sectional outline between heads 28, very greatly simplifies and facilitates the use of the filing cabinets to which they may be applied. For example, it has been customary to provide each file drawer with a socalled divider, adjustable on the rod 24 or its equivalent, but the use of my described rod-like positioning elements entirely 0bviates the need for such dividers; and my positioning elements, serving as dividers, are capable of a wide variety of additional uses in spacing the contents of cabinet drawers, either temporarily or permanently, in such manner as to expedite the use thereof. For example, as suggested in Fig. 1, in addition to using a positioning element 27 near the back end of a drawer, I may use additional similar rod-like elements 27 and 27 to subdivide the contents of the drawer at a desired point or points, and any suitable number of additional positioning elements, of the same or different sort, may be stored at any convenient place or places, as at 27", for use, whenever required, merely to mark a place to which the user wishes to return after an interruption.

It will be understood that the length of the rod-like spacers or positioning elements described is intended to be, as best shown in Fig. 2, such that their ends 28 even though projecting through the walls 12, or their equivalents, shall constitute no obstacle to the reciprocation of drawers, or the like; and, as best illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, when sheet metal vertical wall elements 12 are provided, as separate articles of commerce applicable to the side walls 12 of file drawers initially unprovided with any embodiment of my invention, the mentioned sheet metal wall elements may be provided not only with slots 25 and with enlargements 26 at the bottoms thereof, but with depressions 29, whose edges may extend parallel with the edges of said slots and enlargements, said depressions being adapted to receive and protect heads 28, upon the ends of the rods 27; and the separate side wall elements or extensions 12, when formed of sheet metal, may be of such configuration and resiliency as to be selfretaining upon the elements 12 when mere- 1y clipped thereover. As suggested in Fig. 6, a groove or grooves 30 in one or both of the lateral surfaces of the wall element 12 may be utilized in the retention of an extension 12 or tacks 31 may be driven through one of the edges thereof or through inwardly extending projections 32, shown as overlying the top of a wooden side wall 12 or both a projection 33, entering a groove 30, and tacks 31 may be simultaneously used, if desired.

It will be appreciated that the alternatives last described are immaterial to the broader aspects of my invention, the most essential feature of which may be my described use of rod-like elements, having enlargements at the ends thereof, and my slots, extending through vertical wall elements and provided with expansions, at the lower ends thereof, into which said rod-like element-s, shown as of substantially less diameter, may be laterally pressed (somewhat as shown at 27' and 27 in Figs. 1 and 3) in such manner as to render the rods normally self-retaining in, any slots into which they may be inserted,the lateral pressure of the file con tents tending to hold the same within the enlargements 26. The inclination of the slots 25 enables a camming pressure to be exerted during the insertion of the rods and the rounding of these enlargements renders a mere upward pull effective to withdraw the rods therefrom.

Although I have herein described alternative embodiments of my invention, I am aware that various features thereof might be independently employed and that numerous changes and modifications might be made, by those skilled in the art to which this case relates, without the slightest departure from the spirit and scope of my in vention, as the same is indicated above and in the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A filing organization comprising: a container having substantially vertical side elements provided with slots extending to the top thereof; and retaining elements in the form of straight rods of uniform circular cross section between slot-engaging heads which constitute means to-prevent longitudinal displacement, the respective ends of each rod being substantially alike.

2. A filing organization comprising: a container having side elements provided with slots having rounded expansions at the lower ends thereof; and rod-like posit-ioning elements freely movable through, but normally retained in, said expansions by any lateral pressure on said rods, said rounded expansions serving to limit the lateral movement of said rods while permitting the vertical withdrawal thereof.

3. A filing organization comprising: containers straight rods of uniform cross-section between terminal heads, which are alike at both ends thereof, said side walls being provided with upwardly expanded and inclined slots,the relationship between said rods and said slots being such that lateral pressure is effective toward the retention of said rods although enabling a direct upward pullinvariably to remove said rods past said retaining means.

4. A filing cabinet comprising: a container having substantially vertical side elements provided with inclined slots for the reception of rods, and with rounded expansions at the bottoms of said slots; and round rods therein, of substantially less diameter than said expansions.

5. A filing cabinet comprising: a container having substantially vertical side elements provided with inclined and curved slots; and rod-like retainers removably retained in said slots, the ends of said rods being provided with like heads, disposed exteriorly of said side elements and preventing undesired longitudinal movement thereof. a

6. 'In an organization as defined in claim 5, external, longitudinally extending means for so supporting said container as to avoid contact of the ends of said rods with parts of an enclosing case.

7. For use in an organization of the general character described: side elements comprising extensions removably attached and provided with diagonally slotted means to hold positioning rods in adjusted positions, said extension being retained by means comprising projections entering lateral grooves.

8. For use in an organization of the general character described: retaining elements consisting of substantially straight rod-like bodies, circular and substantially uniform in cross-sectional outline between like terminal heads serving as means at the ends of said bodies for preventing longitudinal movement thereof relatively to side walls of a container said container having side walls diagonally slotted to receive the same.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 27th day of May, 1925.

LINDA G. STEELE. 

